Welp, some teams been knocked out recently so I thought now was good time for sharing thought on the Champion League:

• What are your thought on what is currently going on in the CL?
• Surprised to see some team through over other?
• Dissapointed in certain team performance?
• Any prediction for next round and the upcoming games?

I'm happy Ramos is out so Liverpool can take their revenge for when Madrid won the champions league due to defining incorrect referee decisions in some of their games

Leg one is in the books....

PSG 3 - Bayern 2 While PSG now has an advantage, Bayern squandered so many chances. 31 shots with 12 on goal 64% Possession. I am still going to say Bayern pull it out, but if PSG do get through, I will be pretty happy.

Chelsea 2 - Porto 0 Chelsea came off some terrible recent matches after having a great run. The defense stiffened again in this one and Chelsea has a large advantage. They were the quicker team and should hold onto a tie or another win to get through.

City 2 - Dortmund 1 This game was not as close as the score leads on. Dortmund looked to counter and we all know they can score in bunches, so City has to be smart. I still think they will have too much for Dortmund and get through the series.

Real 3 - Liverpool 1 I was surprised by Real's quick play and energy. They looked the more dangerous team and bossed the match a bit. The second leg will be interesting as it's at home and we know Liverpool can score goals. It's all up to the defense and their finishing.

Have next to nothing to say about the Chelsea - Porto and City - Dortmund game as I didn't see them.

Bayern vs PSG was pretty great, PSG were very clinical and fortunate in the sense that Bayern looked much more dominant and should have made more out of all the chance they created. Still think that PSG need to do better defensively or the home game is gonna be hard. Still a great results by PSG though.

Real vs Liverpool felt one sided, offensively, Liverpool was poor and defensively, they did had a few mistake that costed them dearly. Real on the other looked fantastic and totally controlled the game. Zidane doesn't get enough credit for how he set up his team, especially on this one when he lose one of his key player because of Covid-19. Also, Vinicius Junior scoring goals make him legit scary now.

I told you, from when we got bayern I said I expect us to beat them and I was right but the haters didn't listen for the second time. I expect us to win the champions league

You did call it and grats Footy_watch. Today's match was interesting as Neymar hit the post what two, three times? Mbappe had his own clear chances, and PSG should have buried Bayern. They did do enough, so on they go for the semi-finals.

Chelsea also held their advantage to advance.

Let's see how tomorrow goes, especially the Real match.

Sure : but what is Bayern without Lewangolski, Gnabry, Gorextka, Tolisso, Douglas Costa.... ?

Congrats for the qualification, but dont oversell your victory as absolute achievement. if you got eleminated by Choupo Moting, it would have been a disgrace lol.

Bayern paid their lack of depth, Flick had to deal with replacing irreplacable players, the first leg was so umbalanced and they still lost, they should have won 1st leg and lost 2 nd leg but football is not an exact science...

Neuer did the job, but fucked up first leg. koman and Sane are complitely useless, they need 60 ball to create 1 chance, they arent game deciders and both got a big chance in extra times that wasted poorly.

Muller, Kimmich, Neuer and Choupo did the job, Boateng was there. in the other hand Mbappe did a great game, Ganna Gueye and Paredes were Huge. and Neymar despite getting moments of brilliance, almost costed them qualification by wasting chances and being selfish in some attacking chances....

Poch counter attacking tactings are CL material, but costing them the league. you need possesion to dominate a league and adapted fast transitional play to go far in CL. reason why City always struggle and CL winners usually dont with domestically.

@tiki Agreed very much with you, its worth noting that despite missing a lot of their key players, Bayern only lost on away goal. I mean, congrats on PSG but thx god they were clinical in the first leg because if not, they weren't through. As you said, Bayern injury and lack of depth were once again the reason they lost.

There are a few reasons why the Champions League, unlike almost any other sport or league in the world, is so difficult to win.

First, you are up against the best European teams, and some of those are considered the best in the world, so competition is high.

Next, the travel to the respective venues, which in most cases are completely different countries. Different weather, climate, atmosphere, ect..

Another is the time between stages. Momentum is hard to carry over weeks at a time unlike getting to play each week. Of course, the time between can help players for recovery, but we all know teams are involved in other matches during this time.

Lastly, is injuries to key players and teams that are not as deep as others, so fatigue is prevalent. When you play 38 league matches, then add in domestic Cups and any other tournaments you are involved in, you have the potential to play well over 50 matches in a season!

PSG took on a Bayern team that was missing some big players. Liverpool has had to deal with some major personnel loss, and we can list other teams here as well. Such is the nature of the game for performance this high.

Not to take anything away from PSG mind you, I am pleased they won. It's just when we criticize teams for their showing or lack thereof, we have to remember just how difficult this Cup is.

We were missing big players too. If both teams had all their players I dont think it would've changed the outcome. We are too strong for any team

@Footy_watch Well you're not wrong, but none of those player are as important for PSG as Lewandoski is for Bayern. Still, a win is a win, so congrats for that.

Missing Lewa is big miss. No excuse though, especially theh have seen this problem in recent months.... Such a team cant be that dependant. Tiki is right, Sane and core takes 40 touches in empty area to creat a chance.

They are rushing for the Dortmund's talent again... Jezzz

Semi-finals:
Real Madrid vs Chelsea
Manchester City vs PSG

After watching Real play Liverpool, I can't rule them out of still winning this cup. They looked quick, sharp, and energetic. They have the experience and technical ability and on paper, they look to be the better team over Chelsea. BUT, you dont play the game on paper, and Chelsea has found a groove with a nasty defense. Many say "defense wins championships", so if they can keep Real at bay, and let their offense loose, perhaps they can get through. Werner needs to step up! Chelsea is young and a bit fragile.

I am not so confident in PSG even though they got by Bayern. While I saw that they can play, and of course they have the players, Bayern was undermanned more and did not finish MANY chances of their own to flip the series. Man City on the other hand is completely healthy, has the EPL on lock so can rest players, and is playing some of their best football.

My predictions are Real beat Chelsea (Even though I would love to see Chelsea get through)
Man City beat PSG

Keep in mind this is over aggregate. If this was just one game, PSG has a very real chance to win it.

@tiki_taka:
In the league you play against, usually, inferior teams so the top teams almost automatically have more posession of the ball. In UCL, and more specifically the elimination rounds you are playing against other big dogs and dominating the ball posession heavily is difficult. Exploiting the opponents mistakes and errors is many times crucial at this level. And thats what counterattacks are for.

Teams like Man City, and Pep football, that heavily relies on posession tends therefore to be punished in UCL. Unless you have a Messi, Xavi and Iniesta in their primes.

I have no idea how psg didn't score in the 2nd leg. Neuer showed why he's the best keeper in the world. Neymar could've had a hattrick, I mean Bayern could've been killed!! Brilliant football 🤣🤣

@pelle Agreed, i watched all PSG vs lille vs Nantes vs Monaco vs Marseille, and what i can say is that if you give PSG the possession and hit them in counters they struggle. at the opposite, if PSG hit on counters they are deadly...

Poch is building a CL adapted team, and its probably costing points domestically... im rooting for Paris in CL

I think deep down the team don't care about the league because they've won it too many times and it's not a real challenge like the champions league. Not giving their maximum effort is what makes the real difference and that's why we are worse in the league

One thing worth mentioning about the Liverpool vs Real game is that despite Liverpool creating lot of occassion, Real still felt in control of the ryhtm of the games. To me, it feel like Zidane bring a maturity to his teams, that is honestly uncanny at this level of the competition.

Real vs Chelsea will be very interesting cause Chelsea is a very different beast than either Atalanta and Liverpool.

Really hard to make a prediction for City vs PSG, for me its 50/50. Kinda feel like PSG might make it out of desire only and maybe also because Pep tend to try and surprise the opposition with inovative formation sometime in CL which might cost him if he does.

I think Bayern missed Lewa yes but PSG missed more key players (Verratti=our best midfielder, Marquinhos=our best defence, Florenzi+Bernat=our best right and left back, Paredes for 1 game). So no excuses here, I would even say we were worst off with our than them but anyways thats not the point...
If you still doubt PSG's level lets remember that they just defeated oover 180 minutes Barcelona (breaking their run of consecutive semi finals) and Bayern (breaking their unbeaten run in CL) over not just 1 game but 180 minutes of football... So I'm not saying we are unbeatable or watever butstop with the excuses, and stop counting us out... After all these years of CL deceptions as a PSG fan (and I never found excuses to justifie our lost) we dese3rve that i think XD...

Anyways, I think City will be very difficult to beat of course but I'll say it's a 55-45 for PSG, I'll give us the edge because of our run so far and because Pep seems to have problems at this stage of the competition.
As for Real vs Chelsea, I really like how Chelsea is playing lately but Real in CL is just too experience... So i would say 60-40 for Real.

@SecondPoteauPavard Thats a pretty good take mate, welcome on Footyroom btw. If you need help with anything, ask me or any of the other mods, alway good to see new user. ;)

Yes welcome mate.

Iw as not impressed with PSG against the stuggling Barca, and in the 2nd leg they were dominated... But then with that performance vs Bayern i agree with 55 45 for PSG